===Q) Why is Arch so slow? Programs open slowly or do not run at all!===

===Q) Why is Arch so slow? Programs open slowly or do not run at all!===

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'''A)''' Make sure that your hostname is correctly set in {{ic|/etc/hosts}} (i.e., that it matches the hostname in {{ic|/etc/rc.conf}}. Have a look at "Configure the System" in The [[Beginners_Guide#F:_Configure_the_System|Beginners' Guide]]). If the hostnames do not match, applications may start up very slowly.

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'''A)''' Make sure that your hostname is correctly set in {{ic|/etc/hosts}} (i.e., that it matches the hostname in {{ic|/etc/rc.conf}}. Have a look at "Configure the System" in The [[Beginners' guide#F:_Configure_the_System|Beginners' Guide]]). If the hostnames do not match, applications may start up very slowly.

===Q) Why is my internet so slow compared to other operating systems?===

===Q) Why is my internet so slow compared to other operating systems?===

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'''A)''' Is your network configured correctly? Have you double checked your {{ic|/etc/rc.conf}} {{ic|/etc/hosts}} and {{ic|/etc/resolv.conf}}? Have a look at "Configure the System" in The [[Beginners_Guide#F:_Configure_the_System|Beginners' Guide]].

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'''A)''' Is your network configured correctly? Have you double checked your {{ic|/etc/rc.conf}} {{ic|/etc/hosts}} and {{ic|/etc/resolv.conf}}? Have a look at "Configure the System" in The [[Beginners' guide#F:_Configure_the_System|Beginners' Guide]].

Q) Arch requires too much time and effort to install and use. Also, the community keeps telling me to RTFM in so many words.

A) Arch is designed for and used by a specifically targeted user base. Perhaps it is not right for you.

Q) Is Arch designed to be used as a server? A desktop? A workstation?

A) Arch is not designed for any particular type of use. Rather, it is designed for a particular type of user. Arch targets competent users who enjoy its do-it-yourself nature, and who further exploit it to shape the system to fit their unique needs. Therefore, in the hands of its target user base, Arch can be used for virtually any purpose. Many use Arch on both their desktops and workstations. And of course, archlinux.org runs on Arch.

Q) I really like Arch, except the development team needs to implement "feature X".

A) Before going further, did you read The Arch Way? Have you provided the feature/solution? Does it conform to the Arch philosophy of minimalism and code-correctness over convenience? Get involved, contribute your code/solution to the community. If it is well regarded by the community and development team, perhaps it will be merged. The Arch community thrives on contribution and sharing of code and tools.

Q) When will the new release be made?

A) Arch Linux releases are merely a snapshot of the /core repository, combined with various features or modifications to the installer script itself. The rolling release model keeps every Arch Linux system current and on the bleeding edge by issuing one command.

For this reason, releases are not terribly important in Arch, because the rolling-release system makes new releases out of date as soon as a package has been updated. If you are looking to obtain the latest Arch Linux release, you do not need to reinstall. You simply run the pacman -Syu command and your system will be identical to what you would get with a brand-new install.

For this same reason, new Arch Linux releases are not typically full of new and exciting features. New and exciting features are released as needed with the packages that are updated, and can be obtained immediately via pacman -Syu.

Q) Is Arch Linux a stable distro? Will I get frequent breakage?

A) The short answer is: It is largely as stable as you make it.

You assemble your own Arch system, atop the simple base environment, and you control system upgrades. Obviously, a larger, more complicated system incorporating multitudes of customized packages, and a plethora of toolkits and desktop environments would be more likely to experience configuration issues due to upstream changes than a slimmer, more simple system would. Arch is targeted at capable, proactive users. General UNIX competence and good system maintenance and upgrade practices also play a large role in system stability. Also recall that Arch packages are predominantly unpatched, so most application issues are inherently upstream.

Therefore, it is the user who is ultimately responsible for the stability of his own rolling release system. The user decides when to upgrade, and merges necessary changes when required. If the user reaches out to the community for help, it is often provided in a timely manner. The difference between Arch and other distributions in this regard is that Arch is truly a 'do-it-yourself' distro; complaints of breakage are misguided and unproductive, since upstream changes are not the responsibility of Arch devs.

Q) What exactly is this 'BSD-style' init framework I keep hearing about?

A) Part of BSD's heritage is the simple init framework that it has incorporated. The main difference between a BSD init and a SysV init is that Arch's BSD-style init uses a single line in a single text file, /etc/rc.conf, to point to scripts within a single directory, /etc/rc.d/, for controlling all system services, regardless of runlevel.

A SysV init, on the other hand, would use a system of multiple directories (usually 7 by default), one for each runlevel: /etc/rc.0,1,2,3,4,5,6. Each directory shall contain a gratuitous number of symlinks -- one for each service. Each symlink points to a corresponding script in the /etc/init.d/ directory. Needless to say, the SysV method is more complex, as by default, dozens of symlinks reside under each /etc/rc.0,1,2,3,4,5,6 directory in addition to all of the scripts under /etc/init.d/. Keeping in line with its simple philosophy, Arch Linux uses the BSD-style init.

Q) Arch needs more press (i.e. advertisement)

A) Arch gets plenty of press as it is. The goal of Arch Linux is not to be large, but rather, to provide an elegant, minimalist and bleeding edge distribution focused on simplicity and code-correctness. Organic, sustainable growth occurs naturally amongst the target user base.

Q) Arch needs more developers

A) Possibly so. Feel free to volunteer your time! Visit the forums, IRC channels, and mailing lists, and see what needs to be done. Getting involved in the Community Contributions subforum is a good way to start.

Q) Why is Arch so slow? Programs open slowly or do not run at all!

A) Make sure that your hostname is correctly set in /etc/hosts (i.e., that it matches the hostname in /etc/rc.conf. Have a look at "Configure the System" in The Beginners' Guide). If the hostnames do not match, applications may start up very slowly.

Q) Why is my internet so slow compared to other operating systems?

A) Is your network configured correctly? Have you double checked your /etc/rc.conf/etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf? Have a look at "Configure the System" in The Beginners' Guide.

Q) Why is Arch using all my RAM?

A) Essentially, unused RAM is wasted RAM.

Many new users notice how the Linux kernel handles memory differently than they are used to. Since accessing data in RAM is much faster than from disk, the kernel caches recently accessed data in memory. The cached data is only cleared when the system begins to run out of unused memory and new data still needs to be loaded.

Perhaps the most common culprit of this confusion is the free command:

It is important to note the -/+ buffers/cache: line -- a representation of the amount of memory that is actually in "active use" and the amount of "available" memory, rather than "unused".

In the above example, a laptop with 1G of total RAM appears to be using 741M of it, with naught but a few idling terminals and web browser open! However, upon examining the emphasized line, see that only 278M of it is in "active use", and in fact 731M is "available" for new data. Apparently, 104M of that "used" memory contains buffered data and 359M contains cached data, both of which can be cleared away if needed. Only 267M of the total is truly "free" of the burden of data storage.

Package Management

Q) What package is X in?

Q) I've found an error with Package X. What should I do?

A) First, you need to figure out if this error is something the Arch team can fix. Sometimes it's not (e.g. Firefox crashes may be the fault of the Mozilla team); this is called an upstream error. If it is an Arch problem, there is a series of steps you can take:

If you'd like, write a forum post detailing the problem and the fact that you have reported it already. This will help prevent a lot of people from reporting the same error.

Q) Arch packages need to use a unique naming convention. .pkg.tar.gz and .pkg.tar.xz are too long and/or confusing

A) This has been discussed on the Arch mailing list. Some proposed a .pac file extension. As far as is currently known, there is no plan to change the package extension.
As Tobias Kieslich, one of the Arch devs, put it, "A package is a gzipped [xz] tarball! And it can be opened, investigated and manipulated by any tar-capable application. Moreover, the mime-type is automatically detected correctly by most applications."

Q) Pacman needs a library so other applications can easily access package information

A) Since version 3.0.0, pacman has been the front-end to libalpm, the "Arch Linux Package Management" library. This library allows alternative front-ends to be written (for instance, a GUI front-end).

Q) Why does Pacman not have an official GUI front-end?

A) Please read The Arch Way and Arch Linux. The answer is basically that the Arch dev team will not be providing one. Feel free to use one of those developed by users. There is a selective list on Pacman GUI Frontends.

Q) Pacman needs "feature X"!

A) Please read The Arch Way and Arch Linux. The Arch philosophy is "Keep It Simple". If you think the idea has merit, and does not violate this simple litany, then you may choose to discuss it on the forum here. You might also like to check here; it's a place for feature requests if you find it is important.

However, the best way to get a feature added to Pacman or Arch Linux is to implement it yourself. The patch or code may or may not be officially accepted, but perhaps others will appreciate, test and contribute to your effort.

Q) Arch needs a stable package branch

Q) What is the difference between all these repositories?

Q) I just installed Package X. How do I start it?

A) If you're using a desktop environment like KDE or GNOME, the program should automatically show up in your menu. If you're trying to run the program from a terminal and do not know the binary name, try executing pacman -Qlq packagename | grep bin. A common problem for packages like Firefox or OpenOffice is that they are installed to /opt, which is not in your $PATH - you can source /etc/profile or relogin to fix this.

Q) Why is there only a single version of each shared library in the official repositories?

A) Several distros, such as Debian, have different versions of shared libraries packaged as different packages: libfoo1, libfoo2, libfoo3 and so on. In this way it is possible to have apps compiled against different versions of libfoo installed on the same system.

Unlike Debian, Arch is a rolling-release cutting-edge distribution. The most visible trait of a cutting-edge distribution is availability of the latest versions of software in the repositories; in the case of Arch it also means that only the latest versions of all packages are officially supported. By dropping support for outdated software, package maintainers are able to spend more time ensuring the newest versions work as expected. As soon as a new version of a shared library becomes available from upstream, it is added to the repositories and affected packages are rebuilt to utilize the new version.

Q) What if I run pacman -Syu and there will be an update for a shared library, but no updates for apps that depend on it?

A) This scenario should not happen at all. Assuming an application called foobaz is in one of the official repositories and builds successfully against a new version of a shared library called libbaz, it will be updated along with libbaz. If, however, it doesn't build successfully, foobaz package will have a versioned dependency, e.g.

libbaz=1.5

and will be removed by pacman during libbaz upgrade due to a conflict.

If foobaz is a package that you built yourself or installed from AUR, you should try rebuilding foobaz against the new version of libbaz. If the build fails, report the bug to the foobaz developers.

Q) Is it possible that there will be a major kernel update in the repository, but some of the driver packages will not have been updated for the latest kernel?

A) No, it's not possible. Major kernel updates i.e. 2.6.x to 2.6.x+1 are always accompanied by rebuilds of all supported kernel driver packages. On the other hand, if you have an unsupported package, such as catalystAUR, installed on your system, then a kernel update might break things for you if you do not rebuild it for the latest kernel. Users are responsible for updating any unsupported packages that they have installed.

Q) Does Arch use package signing?

A) Yes. Package signing in pacman has been implemented since version 4. See package signing for more information.

Installation

Q) Arch needs a better installer. Maybe a GUI installer.

A) The discussion of a "better" installer is subjective. The best way to deal with these issues is to fit the installer to The Arch Way. If a suggestion for a better installer is backed with concrete arguments, it might be considered during future development of the installer. Since installation doesn't occur often (see the question above on rolling release), it is not a high priority for developers or users. Consider using archiso or larch[1].

Arch packaging is designed to be minimal, and optional package dependencies are never automatically installed. Rather, the user is simply notified of their existence during package installation, resulting in a slimmer system.

AIF, the simple Arch installer, is designed for a high level of transparency, and the base system is manually configured by the user to their needed specifications.

Arch provides excellent, thoroughly complete documentation to guide one through this process of system assembly.

Other

Q) I get an error every time I use pacman saying 'warning: current locale is invalid; using default "C" locale'. What do I do?